The stillness of the rainforest was broken as a Gate opened onto the front porch of Daphne's treehouse home and two figures stepped out, mid-conversation.

"- why you're bringing me along if it's just an issue with an irrigation system… I don't know anything about irrigation!" the younger female exclaimed, stomping a foot as she glared up at her companion.

Trafalgor just smirked at her as he allowed his Gate to collapse behind them. "Then it's well past time that you learn, Apprentice." He ignored her grumbling as he raised one fist and knocked on the door. After a several seconds with no response from within, he knocked even louder in case Daphne was further inside than the main sitting area. When that, too, received no reply, Trafalgor frowned slightly and turned to walk down the stairs. "Come, Tor. It seems our host is already out trying to deal with the issue."

The younger woman quickly followed behind him with a frown on her face. "You still haven't told me who needs your help, Mtetezi." Her orange robes flowed around her legs as she kept pace with her master's longer and quicker steps. "Also, why exactly do I need to learn about irrigation?" The stairs ended at a platform with some sort of pulley system attached to it and a ladder that led to the ground.

Trafalgor replied to his apprentice in reverse order as he easily slipped his staff into his sash behind his back. "If you intend to ever take up the position of Mtetezi after me, irrigation is just one of the many subjects you will need to have a working knowledge of to fulfill your duties satisfactorily." He then turned and mounted the ladder, taking a few steps down before pausing to grin up at Tor. "And I thought that of anyone in Gulu, you were the one that would be most excited to meet my paramour." With that, he continued to descend the ladder towards the ground.

Tor finally broke out of her surprise with a brilliant smile. "Really?! I get to meet Daphne?!" She could hear her master chuckling below as she quickly slung her own staff and scrambled to follow him. She called down after him as she descended. "You're not messing with me, right Master? I get to actually meet her?"

"Yes, Tor. You get to meet Daphne. Just so long as you focus at the task at hand, you should have plenty of time afterward to talk each other's ears off. I know that the women of the village have been dying for gossip about me ever since I let slip that she and I were romantically involved," Trafalgor commented with a touch of sarcasm, still with a smile on his face. The excited squeal from above him told him exactly how much she was now looking forward to the 'chore' of fixing an irrigation system.

They finally reached the ground and Tor was surprised to see Trafalgor speaking to one of the local tribesman in his own tongue as she unslung her staff and waited. In short order, Trafalgor broke away from the man with a wave of thanks and returned his attention to her. "It seems Daphne has made a small camp near the beginning of the system and has been staying there to work on whatever the issue is." With a frown, he began walking away from the large tree they had just been in. "Come. If she has been working on the problem for several days, I fear that it may be worse than I initially feared."

As Tor trailed after Trafalgor, she was glad that he had forewarned her to wear additional coverings beneath her robes… as she now feared that whatever issue the irrigation system had would require she doff her robes at some point in order to not overheat from the sweltering humidity. After several minutes of travel, Tor began to hear the gurgling of flowing water ahead of them. Moments later, the path cleared enough for her to make out the river… as well as the small campsite that was set up alongside the aforementioned irrigation system. 

It also seemed that her master was not wrong in his fears. For all that she didn't know about irrigation in general, even she could see that the wood that made up the water trough and framework was rotting from where she stood. 

Trafalgor's sigh next to her made her return her attention to her master. "Of course she is…" he said to himself, lowly. "Daphne! Why in the name of the gods are you toting around buckets by yourself?" he then called out towards the camp with a mix of wry humor and chastisement before closing the distance with the beautiful red-headed woman at the bank of the river.

Daphne had an issue with the irrigation system near the tribe. It had been an elaborate set up with her mother to fix the solution of the crops dying in the village. Still, even after she had sent the letter to Trafalgor she couldn’t just not try to do something about every time. They relied on the crops at harvest time and they couldn’t just hunt the animals to extinction. There needed to be balance and she would be that balance if need be.

For days now she had hauled water up and down to the farmlands and watered the plants by herself. The villagers helped her where they could as even they thought she was crazy. However, her efforts were working as the wilting plants sprung back to life within a few waterings. She knew it wasn’t for nothing and finally she could relax her worries for the time being. It was her fault, after all, if something was wrong with the system and she hadn’t noticed.

She was filling the buckets again for the next round of waterings as she heard her name come out of Trafalgor’s mouth. Her red hair had been swept up and she had her skirts tied up so the water wouldn’t get them wet. Just as quick as always from the moment her eyes lit up to the moment she dropped the buckets he would see what she was about to do. “TRAFALGOR!” She found herself running over to him and launched herself up to him. She had a bit of mud on her face as she hugged him.

“I was worried you would take a few more days,” Daphne sounded exhausted but she motioned to the system. “I’m afraid we were going to lose all of our crops if I didn’t come up with some sort of plan. It isn’t quite as easy to go out to the neighboring villages and tell them we need to trade. Someone would have asked who we were and where we were coming from.” She let him help her be lowered down before she looked over at his company.

There was a strange look on her face before she took the woman’s hands with a large smile, “You must be Tor! Trafalgor has told me a lot about you whenever he has visited! It’s so nice to meet you but I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances.” She stepped back a bit and sighed, “I thought at first it was just a clog. I’m not very good with building things nor am I with noticing how dead wood looks but I realized it was rotting the other day after I sent my letter. The wood on my tree is an extension of myself so I’ve never had this problem before. These crops are important since we have to rely on ourselves for everything. I’ve been…”

She sighed a bit and thought about it. “I was only able to save the orchard by bargaining with the ents. They get bath time in the river until we get the system back up. The ents are supplying the trees but they are far too big for the crops so I was carrying the water to them.”

Trafalgor had just enough time to firmly plant his staff into the soft soil of the riverbank before he had to catch Daphne in their customary giant hug with her feet hanging off the ground. He completely ignored her disheveled state as he leaned forward to give her a greeting kiss. He was glad to see that even being tired did nothing to change Daphne's normal demeanor as she turned and gestured at the nearby structure while explaining the situation to them. He let her down gently and chuckled softly as Daphne greeted his apprentice.

"Likewise, Daphne!" replied a grinning Tor. "I've been dying to meet you ever since Master Trafalgor mentioned that you two were courting each other." She then turned to Trafalgor and gave him a pointed glare. "And Master has promised that we can take the time to converse properly after the issue is handled, so don't worry about it at all," she finished with a smile for Daphne.

"You speak the truth, but first we must resolve the issue at hand." He turned back to his lady. "When you said that there was an issue, I thought it was something minor. You hauling buckets back and forth is certainly not something I would call minor, nor is the entire structure rotting away…" As Daphne continued to explain things, he let his eyes drift over to the structure leading back towards the village and his mind run through possible fixes. But when she spoke of making a deal with the ents, Trafalgor couldn't quite hold back a sigh of resignation.

"I suppose it can't be helped, but I dislike giving an inch to those nuisances when they already push their luck with your generosity with annoying regularity," Trafalgor growled out. 

With a thoughtful hum, Tor spoke up as well. "Are those the same ents that you once threatened with fire?" Trafalgor gave a short nod, still focusing his attention on the rotting wood. "Huh… they really must be slow in everything they do if they kept at it after you lost your temper."

"That wasn't me losing my temper. That was me losing my patience. Me leading the charge against the slavers was me losing my temper," he corrected as he finally decided on a course of action. "Now, to business. This," he began, gesturing towards the rotting structure, "is going to have to completely come down before we can rebuild it. Daphne, am I correct in assuming that you don't care about the materials used for the new canals so long as they do their job?" He glanced at her and waited for her affirmation. "Good. Then we'll need a larger work force first and foremost. Daphne, could you let the villagers know that I intend to bring in… four more people from Gulu to help us with this project? I don't want there to be any misunderstandings or stepping on figurative toes if I can help it." Again he waited for her response before turning to his apprentice. "Tor, I will need you to return to Gulu and request the presence of my hunting party for the next several days. While you do that, I will go gather the necessary supplies from Ataiyo and return with them. It may take me several hours to return, so if you beat me back, please have the men begin tearing down the current structure and stack the wood on the other side of it from camp here."

He then turned to both of them. "I'll leave you both in charge to supervise everything until my return. Tor, if anyone gets injured, you should be far enough along in your training to heal them. Daph, don't hesitate to give instructions as needed. This is your domain and I trust you with my people. I'm sure that Tor will also happily have your back, too," he said with a smile towards his apprentice, who nodded firmly in response. "But before any of that, there remains the issue of the fields needing water."

Having said so, Trafalgor grabbed his staff and pulled it out of the ground… then closed his eyes and focused his magick down through his feet and into the river. After a few moments, he felt his control tug sharply before it began flowing smoothly with the current. Using that same flow, Trafalgor shifted the motion so that the water flowed up and out. With a step forward, Trafalgor shifted his stance lower, held one palm face-up as if holding an orb, and gestured with his staff towards the river, then up. He could feel the water beginning to pool above their heads as his magick guided the liquid into the growing ball. After a few minutes, Trafalgor felt he had enough for their needs and cut off the flow from the river, focusing all his magick into keeping the giant ball of water levitated above them as he opened his eyes.

Ignoring his apprentice's gaping expression, he glanced down at Daphne with a smile. "If you would be so kind as to guide me towards the fields, love?"